What’s that, Matt, time for another rant?
No, of course not, I just wanted to throw something out there for a discussion, but of course I am going to through my tuppence in first, because I am starting the thread!

Today at Broken Frontier we welcome back Ricky Miller (below right with Avery Hill’s David White and Rachael Smith) – Co-Publisher of the acclaimed Avery Hill Publishing – to give...

…even though I really enjoyed the article and it mentions some interesting things…I couldn’t disagree more that we need MORE awards…we have enough and they do their jobs…well.

Personally, I feel that rather than having MORE awards ceremonies and reward a small few who have been nominated, I think we need more events like SMALL PRESS DAY to highlight ALL the talent that is out there…but that’s just me.

Yes, I completely understand that that more awards bring more exposure to the medium as a whole and will highlight some amazing talent, which is a great thing.
BUT what about the hundreds and thousands of other comic creators that won’t be nominated, because a judge or section committee weren’t keen on a comic based on “their” own personal options.

From what I have read, to qualify for most awards, you have to be nominated by your publisher anyway and most of the amazing undiscovered talent out there (that I have seen) do not have a publisher picking up their printing bills.
I know that this could sound like sour grapes because I have never been “published” by a “REAL” publisher, but between me you, I have been offered a couple of publishing contracts with smaller publishers, but I turned them down because they wanted to own, yep OWN the majority of a comic that I helped create with my artist partners…should I give away something that I helped give birth to, just so I can be given a pat on the back, have a shiny trophy and potentially be spotted by a larger publisher?
Hmmmmmmm, not for me.

I have seen other awards where you can nominate yourself?
Don’t get me wrong, I have an ego and I am proud of the comics I have made…but I don’t love myself THAT much that I need to feel the need to nominate myself. Recently, a buddy of mine sent me a link for an comic award competition that he thought I’d like to enter…
This was a great one, because to have your comic read and judged…you had to pay a $25 entry fee!
So, let me get this right, I have to pay YOU to read my comic and see if it is worthy to be considered for an award? The worst thing was this particular award already had sponsors too!
So, it just came across like scam to generate money and take advantage of creators who have aspirations to be picked up by the big two.

The Chief doesn’t charge us to enter the annual talent hunt…neither does Top Cow and even the DC Talent workshop…and those poor sods have to sift through thousands and thousands of entries.
I know these examples aren’t comic awards, but I wanted to show that there are other ways to potentially get a leg up in the industry.

Also, wouldn’t having MORE awards ceremonies just dilute importance of the ones that they have, because if we look at the movie industry as an example it is always the same films that are nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA aaaaaaaaaand a Golden Globe….and if I am honest out of the last ten Best Picture winners at the Oscars…There is only one I would agree that was the best film that I saw that year…in my humble opinion.

This was a great one, because to have your comic read and judged…you had to pay a $25 entry fee!

So, let me get this right, I have to pay YOU to read my comic and see if it is worthy to be considered for an award? The worst thing was this particular award already had sponsors too!

You’ve just described almost every single prose short story competition. It’s pretty common.

I hadn’t noticed that we’d ended up without a proper British comics award. What happened to the Eagle Awards? I vaguely remember some controversy (on the internet, novel!) and then something (the BCAs even?) else stepped in to replace it?

I hadn’t even noticed the Eagle Awards had stopped (in 2012, according to Wiki). Apparently replaced by something called the MCM Awards, though I can’t any evidence that anything has ever been awarded.

So…did anyone notice that the Eagle Awards had been discontinued? Did it bother you?

I hadn’t even noticed the Eagle Awards had stopped (in 2012, according to Wiki). Apparently replaced by something called the MCM Awards, though I can’t any evidence that anything has ever been awarded.
So…did anyone notice that the Eagle Awards had been discontinued? Did it bother you

The Eagle Awards were a big thing and they used to feature them on comics covers. I have to admit though I hadn’t noticed they’d stopped running them. They were pretty closely tied to the UKCAC conventions though and they disappeared so it doesn’t surprise me.

Using Swamp Thing as a guide, as I knew Moore’s run didn’t start with cover credits but did later on, I can see the date DC started using them was June 1984. So well done Marvel in taking only 13 years to follow up.